My grandmother (1904-1976) was a well-known Yiddish poet, Malka Lee. Her father's name was Leopold, her mother's was Duhl, and the family came from Monastyryska, Tlomacz, and Chortkov in present-day Ukraine.

Malka was born in Monastyryska and came to the United States when she was 16 years old. For some reason, the family sent only her. She lived in New York, married writer Aaron Rappaport, and had two children. Her son, Joseph, is my father.

When Malka learned that her family had perished in the war, she became extremely distraught, and for the rest of her life harbored terrible feelings of sadness and guilt. Only one brother survived; he moved to Toronto.

I became interested in genealogy and registered my family names with JewishGen. Because the name "Duhl" is not that common, it was easy to make outreach to the people researching that name. I came in contact with a man who was researching his wife's Duhl family tree, and he alerted me to some of the databases that might shed more information.

Through the JewishGen family finder database and the Yad Vashem database, I learned that my grandmother's uncle had moved to Palestine before the war, and had descendants living in Israel. Last summer my sister traveled to Israel and met our cousins. It was a bittersweet reunion.

The branches of the family that survived are thriving, yet we feel sad for the losses that happened so many years ago.We know that our grandmother's heart would have been warmed by the knowledge that some of her family survived. I know that we will be in contact with our cousins for many years to come.

Thank you, JewishGen, for allowing this amazing reunion to occur.

Sincerely,

Ruth RappaportWatertown, Massachusetts

Do you have a similar success story? We would love to publish it! Please send us a note by clicking here.

Steve is bringing to us a return to basics with his lecture on navigating the New York Census with less frustration. There were several state censuses taken in New York starting from 1790. However, possibly the most valuable for genealogical purposes are the 1905, 1915, and 1925 censuses because that was a time of large influx of immigration. There have been assorted aids for getting through those censuses, but they were often hard to use, covered only specific years or boroughs, and were not available at all libraries.

Using his famous One-Step which rectifies that situation by putting a universal finding aid on line that covers all the boroughs of New York City in each of the three census years. This presentation describes the One-Step approach and contrasts it to the previous methods.

Following the short break will be his famous updated Potpourri lecture: The Updated Potpourri of Genealogical Search Tools. The website started out as a way to finding passengers in the Ellis Island database. Shortly afterwards it grew to help with searching in the 1930 census. Over the years it has continued to evolve and today includes about 200 web-based tools divided into 16 separate categories.This presentation will describe the range of tools available and give the highlights of each one.

Guests and their friends are always welcome. There is no admission fee.

Come and enjoy the morning of genealogy with your fellow researchers. This should be a very informative session. We look forward to seeing you there to share this with us and for us to share with you.

Achievement Awards CommitteeMark Halpern, Philadelphia JGS Past President, Program Chair of the 29th IAJGS International Conference held in Philadelphia, and JRI Poland activist, will be chairing the Achievement Awards Committee. He will be joined by:

Paul Cheifitz of Israel (formerly of South Africa), who is very active in the Latvian and South Africa SIG's.

Laurence Harris of England, a former chairman of the JGS of Great Britain

Michael Brenner, who is currently the IAJGS Vice President for Membership.

Rabbi Malcolm Stern Grant CommitteeHadassah Lipsius, an executive member of the JGS of NY, board member of JRI-Poland and Co-chair of the IAJGS International Conference in New York, will be chairing the Rabbi Malcolm Stern Grant Committee. She will be joined by:

You'll keep up on the latest announcements and information about the conference by getting emails from the DC2011 JewishGen Discussion group. Without hesitation, join the in crowd and subscribe. There will be ample opportunity to post questions and comments. Connect with other people coming to the conference.

Subscribe now and you will be the first to know the name of the winner of the 5 night hotel stay. This is the drawing for people who submitted proposals to speak at the conference. Another drawing will be held in mid-February for another 5 night hotel stay for those people who have registered for the conference before February 1.

To subscribe to the discussion group, click this link (or copy it into your browser's address field)

When prompted, log in to JewishGen and you will be taken to the page titled, "Subscribe to JewishGen Mailing Lists." In the Hosted Projects section, find the 2011 DC Conference and click Subscribe on the right side. You will get a welcome message that describes how to post messages and you will be all set.

PROGRAM"Beyond the Y-Chromosome: Tracing Your Genealogy with the Other DNA"

GUEST SPEAKERBennett Greenspan, CEO Family Tree DNA

Guest Speaker Bennett Greenspan, CEO Family Tree DNA, will discuss "Beyond the Y-Chromosome: Tracing Your Genealogy with the "Other DNA" at the February 9 meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County. The meeting takes place at the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach, FL.

An entrepreneur and life-long genealogy enthusiast, since elementary school, Greenspan has turned his hobby into a full-time vocation. A native Nebraskan with a University of Texas BA, he spent years investigating his maternal grandfather's family, which led to the founding of the company and its association with Arizona Research Labs, led by Dr.Michael Hammer, a world authority on Y-DNA genetics.

With more than 255,000 records, Family Tree DNA, founded in 2000, has the largest database of its kind in the world. It is important for Jewish researchers, as it also includes the largest Jewish DNA database available for matches.

Founded in 2000, FTDNA is the largest non-medical DNA testing company in the world. It includes other cooperative ventures such as the National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project and AfricanDNA.com, and is now involved in DNATraits.com, a new medical genetic testing company.

The Ukraine Special Interest Group with SIG leader Mona Morris will meet from 11:30 am-12:15 pm in Classrooms 1 and 2. Genealogy mentors will be available after the presentation. Guests are welcome. There is a guest fee of $5 for those who wish to attend either the Special Interest Group or the general meeting. The guest fee may be applied toward membership dues.

For further information about the Brick Wall program, or to submit questions in advance, e-mail Program Chairperson Helene Seaman helene@jgspalmbeachcounty.org. For Special Interest Groups, contact Mona Morris mona@jgspalmbeachcounty.org.

Come join us on February 20, when Martin Lemelman presents an illustrated lecture on his latest book, "Two Cents Plain: My Brooklyn Boyhood." This book is a bittersweet journey from the Neu Freimann Displaced Persons Camp in Germany to the crowded streets of Brooklyn, New York. We’ll follow a husband and wife as they struggle to begin a new life in the land “where the streets are paved with gold.” Along the way, we’ll meet the characters- walk the streets- experience the smells and tastes of a Brooklyn.

The child of Holocaust survivors, Martin Lemelman was raised in the back of a Brooklyn candy store. His recent graphic memoir, "Two Cents Plain: My Brooklyn Boyhood" is about that experience. His first graphic memoir, Mendel’s Daughter is not only the story of his mother’s miraculous survival in the World War Two, but also the story of Jewish family life in Poland in the 1930’s. The book was an Austin Chronicle pick for Best Books of 2006 and was a New York Public Library Selection- “Books For The Teen Age 2007”.

Jonathan Cape/Random House has released an edition in the United Kingdom. In addition, there is a French edition, La Fille de Mendel and the Spanish edition, La Hija de Mendel will be published shortly.

Professor Lemelman has been a freelance illustrator since 1976. His client list includes McGraw/Hill, Children's Television Workshop, Scholastic, Parent's Magazine Press, Crayola and the Jewish Publication Society, among others. He has illustrated over 30 children's books and his work has been published in magazines ranging from the New York Times Book Review to Sesame Street Magazine.

Martin has recently retired from the Communication Design Department at Kutztown University. He was Full Professor there. He lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania with his wife Monica. They are the proud parents of four wonderful sons.

For a short video about the book, see below:

Also see this interview below. It starts and then there is a brief interruption introducing the site. The interview really begins after about 40 seconds of video.

CourseFoundations of Jewish Genealogical Research - Cosponsored by Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston and Hebrew College

Cost$250.00

StartsFebruary 07, 2011 | 07:00 PM to 09:00 PM

WhereHebrew College, 160 Herrick Road , Newton, MA 02459

Course datesFeb 7, 14, 28; March 7, 14, 21, 28; April 4, 11

Registration is now open for the 9-session introductory course in Jewish genealogy, co-sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston and Hebrew College. The course is being taught for the fourth year by experienced researchers from the JGSGB.This award-winning course offers a comprehensive introduction to Jewish genealogy and will provide students with the tools to research their Jewish family history.

The course includes basic instruction on methodology, worldwide resources, history and geography. Individual research assistance sessions will be offered to all students and a hands-on introduction to Internet research will be offered to beginners.

A course website will carry lecture materials (audio recordings and PowerPoint presentations) for those who miss classes. Basic computer skills are required.

In August 2009, the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) presented the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston the Outstanding Program Award for 2009 in recognition of this course.

The course is made possible by a generous grant from Harvey Krueger of New York. The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston is dedicated to Jewish family history research and offers educational programs, extensive research materials, and an award-winning journal, Mass-Pocha.

The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston (JGSGB) announce that the 33rd IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will be held in Boston August 4-9, 2013, at the historic Park Plaza Hotel in the very heart of Boston. The Conference is being co-hosted by the IAJGS and the JGSGB.

“In 1996, Boston hosted the 15th International Jewish Genealogy Conference,” said Howard Morris, a co-chair for the 2013 Conference, “and we are very pleased that the Conference is returning to Boston after so many years.”

Over 1000 attendees from around the globe are expected to register for the conference. Morris noted that “This annual conference is the premier Jewish genealogical event of the year, bringing together those interested in learning, researching, sharing, schmoozing, meeting new people, connecting with old friends, and having a great time.”

The conference presents many informative programs for both the beginner and experienced genealogist. Sessions will cover such topics as how to best use the Internet for research, how to write up your family history, genetics and genealogy, and Holocaust research. There will also be meetings of those researching the same location, whether shtetl, city, or country. A Beginner’s Workshop is offered on the first day of the conference.

One distinctive aspect of the IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy is the presence of official government archivists from Western and Eastern Europe, who assist attendees in learning what documents are available in their archive and how to obtain them. Another tradition that is unique is a resource room with many research materials available both online and in hard copy.

Over the years, the IAJGS conferences have been held in many cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, London, Jerusalem, and Salt Lake City. The 2011 Conference will be in Washington, DC, while the 2012 Conference will be in Paris, France.

The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) is an independent non-profit umbrella organization coordinating the activities and annual conference of more than 75 national and local Jewish genealogical societies around the world. Go to www.iajgs.org for more information.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Boston (JGSGB) was formed in 1982 as a small study group for people looking into their Jewish family history and has evolved into an active group of over 450 members. Meetings are held monthly (except July and August) at a variety of locations throughout the Boston area. For more information, go to www.jgsgb.org.

We are pleased to welcome the following webpages to JewishGen ShtetLinks. We thank the owners and webmasters of these shtetlpages for creating fitting memorials to the Jewish Communities that once lived in those shtetlach and for providing a valuable resource for future generations of their descendants.

Some of our shtetlpages were created by people who are no longer able to maintain them. We thank them for their past efforts and wish them luck on their future endeavors.The following webpages are "orphaned" and are available for adoption.

If you wish to follow their example and create a ShtetLinks webpage for your ancestral shtetl or adopt an exiting "orphaned" shtetlpage please contact us at: shtetl-help@jewishgen.org

GOOD NEWS!!As a result for our appeal for HTML volunteers we now have a team of dedicated people who will help you create a webpage for your ancestral home. Please contact us if you would like help in creating a ShtetLinks webpage.

The other day, I happened upon a passport application which proved to be quite interesting for the information it provided. It was for a Simon Rosenberg, born in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas, Lithuania) on May 15, 1874, who was applying to go to Australia in 1923. He had arrived in the United States on April 10, 1891, and then had been naturalized on April 23, 1898.

He was a clothing manufacturer and was living at 900 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. His son, Charles Rosenberg, a letter carrier (post office employee), who lived at the same address, signed an affidavit attesting to the fact that he had known him for twenty-nine years which meant that he had been born around 1894.

A photograph of the applicant was included as these were added on the applications processed after December 21, 1914. In addition, there was a detailed description of the applicant as well.

Nothing unusual about all that, at all, but what was unusual was that Simon Rosenberg was required to sign the following affidavit for the State and County of New York which I was not familiar with. It may have been a result of the new restricted immigration quotas which went into effect as of July 1, 1923:

I, the undersigned, an applicant for a passport, solemnly swear that I have not in the past and will not in the future, either directly or indirectly, solicit or advertise for money to be used in bringing immigrants or aid any emigrant, other than the members of my immediate family, to come to the United States, and will in no manner engage in or assist others engaged in inducing emigration to the United States; that in case I enter countries or sections of countries where disturbed conditions exist I will do so upon my own responsibility; that I will not digress from the purposes for which a passport is issued to me, unless such passport is properly amended; and that I will scrupulously observe the laws and regulations of the countries through which I may travel or in which I may reside.

I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.

In addition to the above Affidavit, a note was also attached from the Passport Examiners, dated February 26, 1923, regarding the passport application, to wit:

Applicant apparently wished to avoid stating in application that he will visit Lithuania. Only Australia was at first asked for.

I asked applicant if he has relatives in Australia, to which he answered that he has and named the relationship. I then asked him if he would go to Russia. He replied, “I expect to be in Europe, later.” I asked, “How about Lithuania?” Applicant replied that he would go there, “but not at present,” and a moment later repeated, “but not now.” Consequently application was amended by me to include Lithuania before being sworn to. Applicant signed the attached immigration affidavit without reading it, but after having read it upon my advice he stated “I’m glad I signed it.”

The amended portion of the application now read “Australia to visit relatives and Lithuania to visit relatives & see old home”. Unfortunately, the paperwork doesn’t include anything referencing who the relatives were in either Australia or Lithuania.

Of further interest is that the applicant was going to sail from San Francisco to Australia on March 15, 1923. There is no manifest showing him leaving San Francisco, but there are shipping records that show him making a return journey and leaving Australia for home. Evidently, he embarked in Melbourne, Australia (no date provided), on the purpose-built Australia-London run ship, the SS Largs Bay, which was owned by the Australian Commonwealth Line.

Shipping Line which owned the SS Largs Bay(Courtesy Ships List)

The ship was named for the bay located in the State of South Australia where the city of Adelaide was also situated. The itinerary for the ship was Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Fremantle, Colombo, Port Said, Plymouth and London. The voyage may have taken approximately six weeks or more. Given that time frame, Simon arrived in Plymouth, England, on October 5, 1923. Quite a journey!

The next shipping record found is for when he then left Southampton, England, on November 1, 1923, on the USS America, which was part of the United States Lines (it operated under their auspices from 1920-1931). He arrived back home in New York on November 11, 1923, and was met by his wife Betsy and children Charles, Jewles (sp.) and Helen Rosenberg.

USS America(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

An interesting question, at this point, is did he actually make it to Lithuania after all, and, if so, when did he manage to do it? It is possible that he left England and went to Lithuania before returning home. However, there are no outbound records existing which would prove that.

So, this will remain a mystery unless Simon Rosenberg’s descendants know the answer or further ships’ manifests are made available or located.

In any event, this foray into unraveling the data provided by the passport application has provided quite a bit of genealogically-significant information and clues to further discoveries about Simon Rosenberg’s family.

This update is our largest to date and includes 171,000 new records and 32,700 new photos. The database is adding 360 new cemeteries along with updates or additions to an additional 213 cemeteries from 21 countries. This brings JOWBR’s holdings in excess of 1.57 million records from more than 3,050 cemeteries / cemetery sections from 47 countries!

Once again, you will see that the donors for this update include a mix of individuals, Jewish genealogical societies, historical societies and museums. We appreciate all our donor’s submissions and the transliteration work done by a faithful group of JewishGen volunteers. Of particular note in this update are the following additions:

Lodz, PolandThanks to a dedicated team of data entry and validation volunteers, we are adding approximately 39,000 records to those that went live in June. JOWBR now includes approximately 50,000 records from the “Organization of Former Residents of Lodz in Israel” burial registers. The final set of records for surnames starting with the letters K, P, R, and S will be added in our next update. These records will also be added to the JRI-Poland database.

Melbourne, AustraliaThanks to the Melbourne Chevra Kadisha which has submitted over 29,000 records from 49 cemeteries in Melbourne and surrounding towns. We are especially grateful to the Chevra Kadisha since this is JOWBR’s first significant data collection from Australia.

Wisconsin, USAThanks to the Jewish Museum Milwaukee for their submission of approximately 27,000 records from 50 cemeteries throughout Wisconsin.

South AfricaThanks to Stan Hart for his work to submit close to 17,000 records from over 135 cemeteries throughout South Africa. Stan hopes to add photos to these records in future JOWBR updates.

Virginia / Maryland, USAThanks to the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, Inc. (DC) and a team of volunteers coordinated by Marlene Bishow, Ernie Fine and Harvey Kabaker for their submission of 5,000 records and 4,800 photos from Arlington National Cemetery and more than 1,500 records from the B'nai Israel Congregation Cemetery in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Ontario, CanadaThanks to Allen Halberstadt, lead contributor to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada, Toronto’ Cemetery Project, for submitting and updating approximately 120 cemeteries with 5,000 records from Bathurst Memorial, Lambton Mills, and Mount Sinai cemeteries. In addition to the records, over 4,000 photos from Dawes Road Cemetery are included in this update thanks to the efforts of Robert Lubinski.

Georgia, USAThanks to Ruth Einstein, Special Projects Coordinator for The Breman Jewish Heritage & Holocaust Museum in Atlanta, Georgia for her submission of 4,000 new and updated records from 17 Atlanta area cemeteries.

California, USAThanks to Peggy Hooper at California Genealogy and History Archives for submitting 3,400 records with photos from sections of Eden Memorial Park, Temple Beth Israel, Home of Peace (LA), and Home of Peace (San Diego) cemeteries. Eden Memorial photos were taken by Dr. William A. Mann.

Czeladz – Będzin, PolandThanks to Jeff Cymbler for his submission of over 3,200 records with 3,100 accompanying photos from this town’s cemetery.

Florida, USA

Thanks to Susan Steinfeld, Cemetery Project Coordinator for the Jewish Genealogy Society of Broward County, and her team for their submission of more than 3,000 record and photos from selected sections in the Star of David Cemetery in Miami.

Thanks to Ina Getzoff, JOWBR Coordinator for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, for her submission of 150 new records and 450 photos from the South Florida National Cemetery.

Petach Tikvah / Segulah, IsraelThanks to Gilda Kurtzman for her ongoing record refinement and 3,000 new photos. In total, JOWBR includes close to 60,000 records and 17,000 photos from this cemetery.

Sighetu Marmaţiei, RomaniaThanks to Vivian Kahn, H-SIG Coordinator, for her first installment of 2,950 records from the Sighetu Marmaţiei cemetery register. Additional records are being worked on for the next update.

Roman, RomaniaThanks to Claudia Greif and Rosanne Leeson for 2,100 records from the Roman cemetery register from Roman in the Moldavia region of Romania.

El Paso, Texas, USAThanks to Sandy Aaronson for her work to update and photograph B’nai Zion and Temple Mt. Sinai cemeteries in El Paso. Sandy has added 450 records and 2,100 photos.

Ferndale, Michigan, USAThanks to Stuart Farber for his submission of 2,000 records from the Beth Abraham Cemetery Association in Ferndale, Michigan.

St. Joseph, Missouri, USAThanks to Deena Sandusky for submitting more than 1,700 records from the Adath Joseph and Shaare Sholem Roches cemeteries in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Latvia / Lithuania / UkraineThanks to Christine Usdine for permitting JOWBR to include various Latvian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian cemetery records and photos from her site. Translations of those stones were provided by Sarah Mages.

St. Paul, Minnesota, USAA special thanks to Eileen Wegge, 8th grade public school teacher who during her Holocaust history curriculum coordinated a cemetery indexing project with her students at Chesed Shel Emes Cemetery in St. Paul.

Greensboro, North Carolina, USAThanks to Gene Baruch for indexing and photographing 1,000 stones at the Greensboro Hebrew Cemetery.

Whether your name or records are listed above, we appreciate all your submissions! Thank you to all the donors that submitted information for this update.

We appreciate all the work our donors have done and encourage you to make additional submissions. Whether you work on a cemetery / cemetery section individually or consider a group project for your local Society, temple or other group, it’s your submissions that help grow the JOWBR database and make it possible for researchers and family members to find answers they otherwise might not.

Please also consider other organizations you may be affiliated with that may already have done cemetery indexing that would consider having their records included in the JOWBR database.

The Jewish Chronicle’s move from Shadyside to Squirrel Hill is proving to be a bonanza for the archivists of Pittsburgh’s Jewish history.

Since the Chronicle announced its move in late December, representatives of the Rauh Jewish Archives, a division of the Senator John Heinz History Center, have been scouring the paper’s files searching for items worthy of preservation.

They have found quite a bit, including, books, newsletters, back issues of the Chronicle and other Jewish papers — but nothing more exciting than the Chronicle’s extensive photo collection, which contains an estimated 32,000 files of prints of Jewish leaders and philanthropists taken over the paper’s 48-year history.

Ancestry.com has announced four new collections from the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) that recently were added to their Jewish records collection. www.ancestry.com . These additions are part of the Ancestry premium or subscription required collection for viewing the records. You can do a name search without a subscription. To see all of the Jewish Collection on Ancestry.com- both free and premium see:http://landing.ancestry.com/jewishfamilyhistory/us/default.aspx

Please note, that as the database is of questionnaires, not all servicemen may have filled one out or some may be more complete than others.

On the serviceman cards while there were 550,000 Jewish Americans that served in WWII, The Bureau of War Records complied records on 106,000 soldiers that make up part of the Bureau of War Records, 1942-1947, collection, with supporting documentation from War Department records, newspapers, Anti-Defamation League manuscripts, correspondence by BWR volunteers, POW lists, and other sources.

This data collection consists of research notes taken by Samuel Oppenheim from primary sources on Colonial American and Brazilian Jewry. Information found in this collection includes names, date and place of residence, as well as spouse information.